Ray, who represents the residential city of Clearfield in northern Utah, will propose his firing-squad bill in January when Utah’s next legislative session begins. It will give any convict marked for death the opportunity to die by multiple gunshot wounds.

Lockett’s vein collapsed during an attempt at lethal injection. A heart attack killed him over 40 minutes later.

In 1999, Lockett kidnapped, beat and twice shot 19-year-old Stephanie Neiman. He then commanded an accomplice to bury her while she was still breathing.

Utah is no stranger to execution by firing squad. As recently as 2010, five police officers executed Ronnie Lee Gardner using .30-caliber Winchester rifles.

Gardner said he sought death by firing squad because of his Mormon background. He was able to select it because of a grandfather clause which allows any death-row convict in Utah to choose a firing squad if he (or she) was sentenced to death before the state abolished the practice in 2004.